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Unlike in other sports, road cycling has several races that are more prestigious and important than the Olympic Games. Winning the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, the World Championships, or one of the five monuments are undoubtedly more coveted achievements for cyclists than an Olympic gold medal... except for those who win it. The Olympic Games are one of the few occasions when our sport transcends its own borders and reaches the entire world, and a victory at the Games can catapult a cyclist to global popularity.

The road race has been held since the first edition of the modern Olympic Games in Athens 1896, and is clearly more prestigious than the time trial event. Interestingly, these races are contested without direct communication with the team car, leading to surprises like Anna Kiesenhofer (200)'s victory in Tokyo 2020.

Additionally, the winner can wear a golden helmet or add gold details to their bike for the four years between Games, adding an extra to an already very prestigious victory.

Men's Race: Route and Favorites

As usual, the men's road race features a very long route, this time covering 274 kilometers. With 2,774 meters of accumulated elevation gain, the race is ideal for resistant and explosive riders, especially since the final circuit through the streets of Paris, which the cyclists will loop three times, includes the cobbled climb to Montmartre (1.1 km at 5.9%).

Dutchman Mathieu Van Der Poel (600) is the main favorite alongside Belgians Wout Van Aert (1200) and Remco Evenepoel (1200), Danes Mads Pedersen (1200) and Mattias Skjelmose (1000), Frenchmen Christophe Laporte (800) and Julian Alaphilippe (600), Briton Thomas Pidcock (1000), Australian Michael Mathews (800), Spaniards Oier Lazkano (400), Alex Aranburu (600), and Juan Ayuso (1000), Slovenian Matej Mohorič (600), Americans Matteo Jorgenson (1000), Brandon McNulty (1000), and Magnus Sheffield (600), Eritrean Biniam Girmay (600), Italian Alberto Bettiol (400), Irishman Ben Healy (600), and Ecuadorian Jonathan Narvaez (400).

Women's Race: Route and Favorites

The women's race also concludes with three laps of the urban circuit in Paris, with the Montmartre climb (1.1 km at 5.9%) being the key feature. The total race distance is 159 kilometers with an elevation gain of 1,623 meters.

The start list includes nearly all the top cyclists of today, highlighted by a powerful Dutch team featuring Lorena Wiebes (1200), Demi Vollering (1200), and Marianne Vos (1200). Their main rivals will likely be Belgian Lotte Kopecky (1200) and Italians Elisa Longo Borghini (1200), Elisa Balsamo (1000), and Silvia Persico (1000). Other contenders for the Olympic title include Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma (1000), Danish Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (1000), Swiss Elise Chabbey (1000), Australian Grace Brown (600), German Liane Lippert (1000), Americans Chloe Dygert (600) and Kristen Faulkner (800), Spaniard Mavi Garcia (800), Britons Anna Henderson (600), Pfeiffer Georgi (600), and Elisabeth Deignan (200), and home rider Juliette Labous (1000).

Foto: © Paris 2024 Olympic Games